LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching http://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/LLT Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 389 TEACHING EFL WRITING USING GOOGLE DOCS TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK Annindita Putri Wibowo Universitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia correspondence: annindt_26@student.uns.ac.id DOI: 10.24071/llt.v24i1.3082 received 5 February 2021; accepted 31 October 2021 Abstract An innovative teaching and learning process in a class is essential to provide a meaningful and successful learning experience. Peer feedback evaluating the other students’ writing helps them check, correct errors in writing, and analyze the mistakes to lead to a better understanding and a good improvement. Thus, this study is conducted to observe Google Docs’ use with peers’ feedback for having an innovative teaching and learning process in EFL writing class. 10 EFL students, including male and female from one of the public universities in Central Java, Indonesia studying in the 5th semester are surveyed via non-probability sampling and asked for their participation in this study. The ten students chosen will be interviewed regarding the activities using Google Docs in their article writing class such as commenting and revising after they get the feedback and their reflection of these activities. The results of this study found that Google Docs providing feedback helps students write an article, although they also found some challenges. This study suggests that the lecturers' guidance and perspective are needed in feedback activity during the writing class to have a better and more effective learning process. Keywords: EFL, Google Docs, Feedback, Writing. Introduction Many studies have been interested in the idea of integrating technology supporting teaching and learning activity in EFL writing class. The technology integration has benefited writing class providing tools for teachers and learners giving, receiving, and responding to feedback to gain their writing skills. Some research has found the benefit of technology for learners to process their writing such as editing, writing collaboratively, and doing peer-feedback (Alharbi, 2019). Many current studies have also proven technology-based learning activity using Google Docs enables learners to work collaboratively, interact with others, give and respond to feedback, fix errors, and improve writing skills (Ebadi, 2017; Ebadi, 2019; Wang, 2019). Moreover, the study done by Ebadi (2019) found the EFL learners’ pleasure and confidence in writing. These studies answer the common issue in the traditional paper that challenged some restrictions dealing LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 390 with the students’ effectiveness in writing. These include the correction, editing, feedback, and responses to the feedback to improve students’ writing. Besides the solution for the challenges regarding those some restrictions in traditional writing, web technology-based learning using Google Docs helps learners to enhance their motivation to fix errors so that they can produce better writing. A study that was done by Long (2007) found that Google Docs providing synchronous e-feedback allows learners to compare their writing production that may still be incorrect with the appropriate ones. A similar study also showed that Google Docs engages learners to be active and refine their writing by receiving and responding to teachers’ feedback given in Google Docs (Alharbi 2019). “Studies have pointed toward the advantages of these affordances of Google Docs, including assisting Google Docs EFL learners to contribute to the overall quality of writing.” (Alharbi, 2019, p. 3). Despite the number of previous studies focusing on the use of Google Docs providing feedback for EFL learners writing skills, the study that looks for the use of Google Docs in giving and responding to feedback that is advanced for both Indonesian teachers and learners innovative learning process is still unavailable. In this study, I will look further at how Google Docs as a web technology- based learning provides an innovative teaching and learning process in EFL writing class using its feedback features. The participants of this study will be 10 EFL learners. For this study, I will interview them to collect data explaining how Google Docs provides an innovative teaching and learning process for EFL writing classes through its feedback and the learners’ review after writing, receiving, and responding to feedback. Literature Review An understanding of innovative practice is essential to know the in-depth concept of what it is. Carr and Johansson (1995) defined an innovative practice as an approach to transform it into useful applications that create change and improvement. Cumming and Owen (2001) identified several characteristics of innovative teaching such as in-depth knowledge that includes innovation and pedagogy, core values including a desire to improve practice, and change management. In the last decade, there have been a lot of studies exploring innovative teaching and learning in the school context (Aguerrondo, 2008; Istance, 2011). Fraser (2016) conducted a study of innovative teachers in higher education to explore the characteristics of innovative instructors in the learning environment. While technology has been developed and many applications are used to support innovative teaching processes in writing such as blogs, wikis, and Google Docs, innovative teaching with integrating technology helps teachers observe and facilitate writing classes for the students (Jeong 2016; Alharbi 2019). From those definitions, I conclude that an innovative practice requires teachers or lecturers’ role to use such applications into the teaching and learning process to bring improvement. In the last five years, there has been a large number of studies on how innovative teaching and learning processes integrate with technology in the context of EFL writing. Thematically, the application of Google Docs used by EFL teachers was conducted in the context of editing students’ writing, collaborative writing, monitoring students' work, and giving feedback. Godwin- LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 391 Jones (2008) had done their research on web-writing 2.0 Google Docs and found that users mostly use Google Docs to edit the writing (p.8) because it provides spelling, grammar, replying to the comments or feedback and contributes to the development of their writing skills. A study by Ebadi (2019) also found that feedback can engage students to edit and give helpful comments on their writing. More specifically, Google Docs offers other advantages such as revising learners' written text with different and variant corrections starting from words, phrases, and sentences (Alharbi 2019). Methodologically, Tsui, and Ng (2000) used an experimental study in classes to observe students’ writing activities and instructors’ feedback, corrections, and comments. Also, the recent study using the interview to know learners’ perceptions towards the use of Google Docs highlighted their positive attitudes and responses to writing and assessment sessions conducted using Google Docs (Ebadi 2017). Alharbi (2019) conducted the study using a qualitative research approach to know the role of Google Docs in providing feedback in students’ writing and its results show that it can engage students being active in responding to the feedback and integrating it into their text revision. So, all of those previous studies with several types of methods used to investigate the role of Google Docs in facilitating students’ writing in terms of collaborative writing, feedback, corrections, and students’ attitudes toward it. Previous studies have found many advantages of Google Docs in facilitating innovative writing for the EFL writing course. Google Docs supports writing practices through teachers’ guidance in giving feedback and the students’ editing of the feedback (Hyland 2003; Kalan 2015). Many other studies have also shown how Google Docs shares its advantages to EFL writing can develop EFL academic writing skills (Ebadi 2017). This corroborated the study of Ebadi (2017) who stated that “Learners who used Google Docs outperformed those in the face- to-face classroom in overall writing skills.” (p. 20). The previous study done by Alharbi (2019) explained Google Docs focusing on global issues, organization of ideas, grammar, citations, and conventions. Moreover, conducting assessment sessions using Google Dogs also facilitates EFL teachers to improve EFL learners’ writing skills (Ebadi 2019). Therefore, the role of Google Docs is not only for the students’ performances in writing but also for the teachers’ evaluation so that it can support innovative teaching and learning processes in EFL writing class. There is a lot of study focusing on the advantages of giving feedback in Google Docs to support learners’ writing performances in the EFL context. However, only a few research studies investigate the use of Google Docs and feedback in the Indonesian context. The purpose of this study is to know the benefit of Google Docs and feedback given on the learners' overall writing aspects in the Indonesian EFL context. This study investigates the way the Article Writing class conducted using Google Docs with feedback activity and learners' responses. Specifically, this study has two following research questions: 1. How is peer-feedback given to the learners writing performances using Google Docs? 2. What are learners' attitudes towards feedback in Google Docs? LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 392 Method This study will take place at one of the departments in one of the public universities in Central Java, Indonesia, and will be done in an article writing class taken by the fifth-semester students in the program. Undergraduate students in the university need to write a research for their final assessment to graduate from the university. The students are supposed to start focusing, learning, and preparing how their research paper will be arranged during the article writing class. Google Docs helps the class go effectively so that the students can write and edit anytime. The need for lecturers’ feedback to check and evaluate the students’ writing does matter to ensure their understanding. I will ask the lecturers’ permission and try to collect the data from the university that contains names of students that are studying in the article writing class. The participants of this study will be 10 undergraduate EFL students from English Education Department in writing class, specifically article writing class. Participants will be males and females in the 5th- semester aging between 18 and 21 years old. The participants involved are those who experience article writing using Google Docs. I will collect the names of students who are studying in the fifth semester and do purposive sampling. There will be about 80 students in the fifth semester and I will choose 40 of them who experienced writing using Google Docs and receiving peer and lecturer feedback. The 10 students’ names from the data are chosen based on their various proficiency levels in writing. I will ask the 10 students’ willingness to participate in my study. As shown in table 1, there are 10 students chosen to participate in this study Table 1. Participants Pseudonym Gender Age Pseudonym Gender Age Joni Male 19 Jessie Female 18 Joshua Male 20 Tiffany Female 20 Hendery Male 20 Jessica Female 20 Andy Male 21 Aisyah Female 20 Brian Male 21 Adelia Female 21 In this study, I will use a qualitative case study approach which is defined by (Stake, 1995; Yin, 2009, 2012, 2014) as a study conducted in many fields and developed in an in-depth analysis such as case, activity, process, or individuals. The use of a qualitative case method for my study is in line with the nature of a qualitative approach itself which is to explore the meaning individuals ascribe to the way Google Docs supports innovative teaching and learning process with its feedback given by the lecturers in academic and article writing class. I will collect data using the interview to explore the learners’ reflection on the use of Google Docs that supports article writing class. This study will investigate how the feedback given by the lecturers and peers on the students' writing, the students’ comments on the lecturers’ feedback, and the students’ text revision after getting LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 393 feedback can improve students' writing performance. I will do a follow-up interview to get the participants’ responses explaining their attitudes and reflection towards the use of Google Docs in academic and article writing class. The participants’ responses during the interview will be transcribed and analyzed. This study will use a thematic analysis (Alharbi,2019) to analyze the transcripts of the participants’ responses in the follow-up interview. Findings and Discussion This study investigated the students’ perception of the use of Google Docs and the implementation of peer feedback activity. This study observed 10 students in the fifth semester who are asked to write an article using Google Docs. The findings of this study provide an overview of the use of Google Docs in Article Writing class and students’ perception that consist of the benefits, challenges, and recommendations of the implementation of peer feedback activity. They shared their positive attitude towards Google Docs and peer feedback activity that helped them develop their writing. But, they also faced some challenges and gave recommendations on the peer feedback activity using Google Docs in the future. Only a few studies investigate the effectiveness of Google Docs and peer feedback activity therefore this study wants to observe more the implementation of peer feedback given on students’ writing using Google Docs. Description of the Teaching of Writing Using Google Docs The teaching of writing using Google Docs was done by the students in the fifth semester in the Article Writing Class. The students are asked to write an article in Google Docs for the whole semester. The lecturer created files in Google Docs based on every students’ name and shared the link with the students. The class focuses on writing every section of an article every week with the lecturer’s guidance and monitor. Google Docs is used in this class to help students write effectively and are monitored easily by the lecturer. Google Docs helps the students write, edit, check errors and revise their writing with auto-saved features so they will not worry if they forget to save their writing. The following table summarizes the students’ responses to Google Docs used for teaching writing in the article writing class. The results of the interview of 10 respondents divided into five groups were transcribed and analyzed. LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 394 Table 1. Students’ responses to the use of Google Docs in Article Writing class From all the students’ responses, Google Docs is useful to write an article because of its feature. The students explained Google Docs allows them to edit, revise, check the history of their writing, save automatically, and get feedback, comment, or suggestion from their lecturers and friends. This is in line with the previous study done by Alharbi (2019) who found that Google Docs allows learners to refine their writing, automatically save the changes, receive, and provide feedback on writing. The findings of this study are the same as the study done by Ebadi (2017) who showed that students were able to work collaboratively, edit, and give feedback to their peers’ writing using Google Docs. Furthermore, Google Docs helps students develop their writing more effectively and they have a convenient time and place to edit. The Implementation of Peer Feedback Activity A study done by Bradley and Thouesny (2017) found that peer feedback or comments focus on content issues, structure, and general praise. Peer feedback was done in Article Writing class by the students commenting on their friends’ writing. The implementation of peer feedback activity was done by the students receiving feedback through Google Docs comments (Alharbi, 2019) and directly on the students’ writing using a table to write the feedback or suggestion. In general, peer feedback was given by the students to others after the lecturer asked them to do so. All students were asked to write every section of an article in Google Docs every week. After they finished writing, the lecturer then asked them to find their peer to check and give feedback in terms of the evaluation for the lack of their friends’ writing and the suggestion as well. LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 395 Table 2. The implementation of peer feedback activity Table 2 shows how peer feedback was given on the students’ writing. Students gave feedback that focuses on the local issue in writing. This is in line with the previous study done by Alharbi (2019) showing that most feedback given focuses on the local issue such as the content and organization of ideas. This study also correlates with Kurihara (2016) who found the students’ feedback in peer feedback activity was in the form of suggestions to add more explanation. Students’ Perspectives on the Benefits of Peer Feedback Activity Table 3. Students’ perspectives on the benefits of peer feedback activity Table 3 shows the students’ perspectives on the benefits of peer-feedback on writing in Article Writing class. Each group has two students who shared the same responses toward peer-feedback. Group 1’s perspectives indicate that peer- LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 396 feedback helps them check and evaluate the lack of writing. Students in group 2 said that they understand more easily the feedback given by their peers. The other students in group 3 shared their opinion towards peer feedback which gives new insight for them about writing ideas. Group 4 also thinks that peer feedback helps them fix and make their writing better. The last two students who join group 5 enjoy peer feedback because it can give them broader knowledge and points of view. Students in group 1 said, “Feedback given from my friend helps me to check and evaluate the lack of my writing so that I can fix and make it better”. The results of this study correlated with the previous study done by Alharbi (2019) which found that students expressed their positive views to the value of peer feedback which can help them identify the lack of their writing. This study is also in line with Lee & Evans (2019) who explained the results of the interview of their study receiving peer feedback can help revise their writing and develop their L2 activity. In contrast with the study done by Huisman (2018) which found that not all students think that peer feedback helps them in writing because some of them just found that explanatory feedback is more useful than peer feedback containing suggestions and making them revise their writing. Students’ Challenges on Peer Feedback Activity Table 4. Students’ challenges on peer feedback activity Table 4 presents the challenges the students faced when implementing peer feedback activities in Article Writing class. Although every group shares different challenges, some of them faced almost similar challenges when receiving peer feedback. Group 1 has difficulties in responding to the feedback given because they have different perspectives about the point they write and their peers’ suggestions. Meanwhile, students in group 2 are often confused with their friends’ feedback so they need to ask further. Group 3 almost shares the same difficulties with group 1 when they receive peer feedback. Group 3 thinks that the feedback given is not relevant to the topic. Students in group 4 are concerned about their friends’ attention to their writing because they just give feedback without LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 397 considering whether the points are already stated or not. If group 1 to group 4 finds difficulties related to the content of the feedback given by peers, group 5 highlights more on the unequal division of peer feedback activity. Students in group 5 see some students do not have peers to evaluate their writing. One of the respondents said “Sometimes, I and my friends who give me feedback have different points of view. I think what I have written is enough but then my friends suggest me to add more so it is sometimes hard for me and makes me think about whether I should add it or not.” This result is in line with the previous study done by Ebadi (2017) who also found some challenges in peer feedback activity. He said that the activity is often challenged by the students’ mistrust of the reliability of peer feedback. The students’ challenges on peer feedback activity about the different point of view or understanding between one student to another correlated with the study done by Krishnan (2019) who found differences in perspectives towards writing challenge the students. Students’ Recommendations on the Implementation of Peer Feedback Activity Table 5. Students’ recommendations on the implementation of peer feedback activity Table 5 describes the students’ recommendations on the implementation of peer feedback activity after they experienced it. Group 1 recommends further peer feedback activity for giving specific criteria about what kind of feedback should be given on friends’ writing. Group 2 gives its recommendations on the implementation of peer feedback activity not only in Article Writing but also in the other subjects. Students in group 3 said that on the next peer feedback activity when students want to give feedback to their friends’ writing, it will be better if they are online and open the file together so that they can ask directly if they do not get what the point of their friends’ feedback. Group 4’s recommendation is on the lecturer’s attention, guide, and control during peer feedback activity to make sure the students’ feedback is relevant. Group 5 recommends the lecturer to divide LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 398 every student’s peers to make it equal and all students can receive similar amounts of peer feedback. One student said “To avoid misunderstanding and irrelevant feedback, I think it will be better for students to be online and open the file together. So, if a student gets feedback but he is still confused, he can directly chat with his peers on Google Docs room chat and ask or clarify the feedback.” Similarly, the previous studies give the same recommendation as this study on peer feedback activity. According to Alharbi (2019), peer feedback activity needs the lecturer’s observation to achieve the intended goals in this context is the goal of giving feedback. Ebadi (2017) also recommends that peer feedback activity could provide relevant details to make it clearer and this is in line with the results of this study's recommendation about how important necessary and relevant feedback is. In general, the results of this study are in agreement with the previous studies on the use of Google Docs in writing class and the implementation of peer feedback activity. The findings of this study are in line with the previous studies investigating students’ positive attitude on the use of Google Docs that helps them to give comments, receive feedback, revise their writing, its contribution to the development of their writing, and the students’ challenges on peer feedback activity that also corroborate the previous research saying that the students will carefully choose whether the feedback given by their peers should be incorporated into their writing or not (Alharbi 2019; Ebadi 2017; Kurihara 2016). Conclusion In this study, we observed the use of Google Docs and peer feedback activity in the Article Writing class done by Indonesian EFL learners in the fifth semester. We look further into their perceptions on writing an article with giving, receiving, and responding to feedback using Google Docs. In general, this study’s findings show the students’ positive attitude towards peer feedback given on the work that benefits them in developing their writing and their recommendations after they find any challenges. Google Docs helps students write effectively and collaboratively because it allows them to write, check grammar, comment, revise, and edit their writing after they receive feedback from their friends. Peer feedback is also implemented using Google Docs which focuses on checking the local issue in writing and giving some suggestions related to the content. The implementation of peer feedback activity encourages students to recheck and evaluate their writing to be better because it can give them more insights and ideas to fix the lack of their writing. Although the students get lots of benefits from Google Docs and peer feedback activity, they also find some challenges such as different understanding of what their friends have already written and the difficulties in considering and integrating their friends’ feedback. Despite these challenges, the students recommend implementing Google Docs not only in writing class but also in the other subjects because of its effectiveness and the lecturer’s guide and control over the criteria of giving feedback to the peers’ writing. Thus, this study implies that the use of Google Docs and peer feedback activity is beneficial for students in writing class but it still needs the lecturer’s guidance. Future studies need to explore the implementation of peer feedback using Google Docs together with the teachers’ or lecturer’s perspective. LLT Journal, e-ISSN 2579-9533, p-ISSN 1410-7201, Vol. 24, No. 1, October 2021 399 References Aguerrondo, I. (2008). 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